Quote:
Originally Posted by 1Bad62Pro/Street
You got me wanna start beafing her up more now
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Not sure that it matters since I am rarely in the mainstream of popular thinking, but I have a somewhat offbeat perspective about pro/street builds, and applaud your current build approach and your candor in explaining your priorities.
My truck was also built just to have fun with, although rather than pro/street I grew up when gassers ruled, and that’s the build direction I was headed. With a Pete Jackson gear drive, manual 4 speed, and throaty mufflers, and very limited insulation, it’s rather noisy. With 4.10 rear gears and a 2.64 1st gear, it offers impressive acceleration. Had I remained employed a few more years it would have received fenderwell headers and a tunnel ram with a BDS scoop sticking through the hood, (and most likely produced less power than it did before). But I don’t consider it a poseur. Everything in it is functional, and it goes fast enough to be scary if driven like an idiot.
Sitting in a parking lot full of jelly bean cars or at the local drive-thru it stands out like a movie star and attracts a lot of attention. Even at a national rod run it fits in and receives a lot of admiring comments. Almost every trip out of the garage results in a pedestrian double take, or thumbs up from the general motoring public. And my squeeze loves it for going on dates.
Here’s the best representation of my car hobby philosophy I can find. It’s a photo I recently re-discovered on Google Images:
I bought the magazine this photo first appeared in, I believe back in the late 60’s. I was blown away with the cool factor. It still had a front bumper, did not have a Moon tank up front, no blower sticking through the hood, and no obvious fenderwell headers, but it screamed performance. It may or may not have been competitive at the track, but it certainly would have been a hit at the local drive in theater, and an efficient chick magnet.
My truck doesn’t do a lot of things very well. Soft springs severely limit load capacity. It’s impractical for basic transportation because it spins 3,000 rpms at 60 mph resulting in lousy gas mileage at freeway speeds. Windshield wipers and heating are marginal keeping it grounded most of the winter months. And although it will get there quickly - it doesn’t have much of a top end. A genuinely fast car, a performance rice burner, or even a motorcycle could easily leave me in the dust. But the driving experience and attention it generates continue to be fun every time it leaves the garage.
I don’t have the finances to make my truck consistently competitive without breakage. Being enjoyable and attention getting is enough for me. I feel the same way about pro/street cars and trucks. It doesn’t matter to me if they “are” fast, or just “look” fast. At a rod run I’m still going to stop and look at all the details and admire the craftsmanship that went into the build.